Billionaire Tom Steyer is outpacing gubernatorial rivals at a furious pace

from Jeanne KuangCalMatters

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Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist and self-proclaimed progressive candidate for governor, is on track to run the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in state history, having already spent more than $132 million.

It has saturated the Internet and television as special interest groups ramp up their advertising ahead of the June 2 primary and county officials prepare to mail out ballots.

Campaign finance disclosures filed late Thursday show that through mid-April, Steyer continued to outbid opponents twenty to thirty times, mostly to hit the state with television ads that began airing early in the race. Almost all of the money came from Steyer himself, $105 million of which he poured into the campaign from January to April 18.

It has already surpassed the $73 million spent by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign to fight a recall election against him in 2021 and surpassed the amount Newsom’s political committee spent last fall to pass Proposition 50, the Democratic gerrymander effort with high national interest.

If Steyer continues at this pace, he is likely to approach or surpass the record $159 million that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman burned — also largely of her own money — in her failed 2010 gubernatorial bid.

Campaign finance filings show his rival, tech-backed San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, has dominated his fellow Democrats in fundraising over the past four months, bringing in $13 million. Former Rep. Katie Porter raised $2.8 million during that period, while former Attorney General Xavier Becerra brought in $1 million, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa raised $707,000 and Public Schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond raised just $62,000.

On the Republican side, conservative TV commentator Steve Hilton’s campaign said he raised $4.4 million, while Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco raised $1.5 million. Both remain at the top of the polls.

Steyer’s spending spree is a flashpoint in a race defined by wealth, inequality and an affordability crisis in California. Progressives are impatient to tax billionaires this year; the resulting backlash to those proposals prompted wealthy Silicon Valley executives like Google’s Sergey Brin and venture capitalist Michael Moritz to spend heavily this election year.

Steyer promises to rein in wealthy interests like them and corporations. He says he will implement it with public funding universal healthcare, reduce electricity bills and raising corporate property taxes to pay for government services.

His own fortune stems from a hedge fund where he once invested in fossil fuels and private prisons before turning to liberal activism. It serves as both fodder for criticism from opponents across the political spectrum and an unlikely source of his own progressive credentials. He was able to convince several left-wing groups such as the California Nurses Association and the Bernie Sanders-founded political action committee Our Revolution that he “can’t be bought” by other special interests, which won him their approval. His ads helped boost his standing among likely voters from relative obscurity to the top of the Democratic field.

Democrats are still tied

Yet he has hardly broken away, remaining essentially bound in a recent survey with other Democrats right behind the two Republican front-runners, Bianco and Hilton.

Instead, after the other favorite Rep. Eric Swawell dropping out of the race this month amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct by multiple women, it was Becerra who received a surge in support. The former Biden-era health secretary was polling around 5 percent and fundraising poorly before getting a boost from small donors when Swawell’s campaign collapsed just two weeks ago.

Becerra rose enough in the polls to be included in the first of a series of televised debates Wednesday night, during which he was eager to attack his opponents, but faced criticism for a lack of specific policy and for giving Newsom an “A” grade for his efforts on his approach to homelessness. The number of Californians experiencing homelessness has risen steadily during Newsom’s nearly eight years in office.

Becerra will need to keep raising money to stay competitive. His campaign spent four times what he brought in between January and April 18, and he finished the cycle with just $507,000 as the race entered its most expensive stretch.

Porter, a former Orange County congresswoman who has been trailing in the polls, collected less than she did in the second half of last year. But she still has $3.7 million in hand.

Besides Steyer, Mahan has collected the most over the past four months. Little known in the state, he ran on a platform of more effective government. He promised not to raise any taxes, suspend the state gas tax and tie the pay of state agency heads to performance.

His campaign has been funded by a who’s who of Silicon Valley executives, billionaires and groups known to clash with Sacramento’s powerful unions. They also fund two independent political expenditure committees supporting Mahan, which have raised $25 million and spent $19 million on ads through April 18.

Other special interest groups are also increasing their spending. A group opposing Steyer, funded by state brokers, the construction industry, the Electrical Workers Union and Pacific Gas & Electric, has spent $14 million on ads attacking Steyer’s past investments. This week, PG&E and the California Chamber of Commerce poured in another $7 million. Steyer proposed challenging PG&E’s monopoly status to lower Californians’ utility bills.

Swalwell used campaign funds to pay a lawyer

The documents also reveal that Swawell used campaign funds to pay one of the lawyers defending him against allegations of misconduct.

His campaign paid $40,000 to Sarah Azari, who sent out press statements denying the allegations after he had already suspended his campaign and appeared on NewsNationwhere she is a legal analyst, suggesting that his accusers had “shame” or “regret” but that “doesn’t make it rape.”

Swalwell also used at least two other law firms to send cease and desist letters to the women and others who alleged misconduct; those businesses do not appear on his campaign finance report. His gubernatorial campaign has returned at least $43,000 in donations since its collapse.

Swawell paid campaign funds to use his own AI startup to fund the campaign and cover about $22,000 in child care expenses that he and his wife regularly made over the years from his congressional campaign account. This is permitted under federal and California campaign finance law as long as the child care needs are related to the campaign; Swawell was one of the biggest spenders in this category.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.